Keeping Your Cover
by xxAniAminexx
Summary: Lucy has always known what she wanted; to graduate from Fairy Hill Academy, an undercover spy school for girls, before working in the real world. Seventeen years later, she is one year away from finally graduating. All she has to do is prove she has what it takes to survive. And she doesn't need help from her new "partner", Natsu Dragneel, to do it either...right?


**A/N ****The following story is inspired by Ally Carter's series; _The Gallagher Academy_****. The plot will be different from the series and so will the conclusion, but there will be some similarities in event details. And, if you haven't read anything by her yet, I suggest you go to the nearest book store now. She is such an amazing author! **

**Disclaimer- Fairy Tail is made by Hiro Mashima and Gallagher Academy belongs to Ally Carter**

* * *

There are so many pros and cons for living in a mansion that acts as a double for your undercover spy school. For example: your dorms use to be the bedrooms of a late princess from two hundred years ago: PRO. Heating and air conditioning weren't invented until 1855 or about 50 years after the mansion was built: CON. Since your dorm use to be the bedroom of a princess, you are granted a ton of space and an amazing view of the small town just beyond the school's gates: PRO. The school bell wasn't invented until 70 years after the mansion was constructed: CON.

So that, of course, left my school with other means of getting their students ready for breakfast at 8 am in the morning; the mechanical alarm invented in 1787. Or as I like to call it, "The Loudest Sound in the World.".

"Everybody up!" yelled Erza, one of my roommates, over the blaring alarm.

I groaned before rolling over and placing my pillow over my ears, "Why can't they wake us up normally again?"

"Because, we aren't considered normal?" answered Levy from her bed across the room.

"Point taken," I sat up and pushed my bed's covers to the end of the bed, "But it would be nice to have the ability to hear by the time I turn twenty."

There was a click and the shrieking alarm disconnected. I grinned over at Levy.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you for being such an amazing hacker?"

Levy returned the grin and shut her laptop with a snap, "You could stand to mention it more."

"If we don't hurry we will miss the Back From Summer Breakfast." stated Erza from her own bed.

"Yeah, yeah." muttered Levy as she rose out of her bed.

Erza threw us our uniforms so we could change.

Contrary to popular opinion, our school uniform weren't black jumpsuit with gadgets, like lasers that burned through metal as if it were butter, hidden in secret compartments. No, the uniform was simply that of a normal, rich private schoolgirl; white blouse, purple sweater with the Fairy Hill Academy's crest, purple and white plaid skirt, and white shoes.

"Twenty minutes." warned Erza, already dressed and ready to leave.

"You know, we can't all be inhumanly fast changers like _some people_." said Levy as she rolled her eyes in Erza's direction.

Erza huffed while I laughed and continued yanking on my shoes, "Alright, I'm done."

"Me too." said Levy. She stood up from her bed and smoothed out her skirt with her hands.

Erza nodded and threw us our bags ( an impressive feat since Levy stores practically all her subjects in the tiny thing; including, the 679 paged _Guide to Cracking Common F.B.I Codes_, although she will we always insist it is only used for 'light' reading).

Five minutes later, we were making our way down the spiral staircase, towards the Hall with the rest of the girls from our tower.

"You think they are serving pancakes with whipped cream for breakfast today?" asked one of the girls from our group.

"No," answered Levy, immediately "They are making waffles with cream today."

"Really?" the girl asked, curiously, "How do you know?"

Levy blushed, "I heard one of the professors talking about it yesterday."

The lie came smooth and easy to her lips. Although, I doubt anyone was paying much attention to the small tell tale sign she made (Levy was known for her brains, not her lies or fighting skills) , as they excitedly discussed the new information on breakfast. I had to cut them some slack for missing the way she flicked her eyes slightly to the left; evidently giving away her lie. Fairy Hill Academy's cooks knew how to make an awesome breakfast, especially after training in Paris over the summer.

"I bet the cooks have a whole bunch of new recipes for desserts this year." said Cana, coming up from behind.

"That should be interesting to taste." said Erza as Cana slung her arms around her and Levy's shoulders.

"Oh, don't be a downer, Erza," said Cana "they aren't stupid enough to go messing with your strawberry cake."

Erza shrugged of the comment with indifference, but Levy, Cana, and I didn't miss the small satisfied grin that flashed across her lips before disappearing when we reached the dark, solid wood door that led to the North Wing.

Erza had just grabbed the brass knob when a timid voice stopped her.

"You can't!" said the familiar voice from the back of the group.

Erza looked up in confusion before letting go of the knob. Everyone in the group then turned to see Miss. Aries, the Culture and Assimilation teacher, pushing through the group of girls to reach the doors. When she reached Erza, she placed her hand on the door; preventing the doors from being opened.

"The North Wing is off limits." Miss. Aries said, looking hesitantly at our group.

"How are we suppose to get to our classes?" protested a voice from the back.

Miss. Aries looked towards the voice, "I'm sorry, but you must find another route to your classes."

"Can you at least tell us why?" asked Cana.

Miss. Aires's eyes grew wide at the question.

"This Wing is temporarily out of use." said Miss. Aries.

"Out of use?" I asked, confused, "Did something bad happen?"

She shook her head and didn't offer any other answer.

More voices spoke up and began bombarding Miss. Aries with detailed questions on the unexpected closing of the Wing. Given Miss. Aries's personality, I gave her the next 78 seconds until she cracked. Although, it turned out Erza noticed this too and quickly put an end to the interrogation.

"You heard her," said Erza in her commanding tone. "We will find another way to the Hall."

There were groans of protest which even I silently agreed too. Almost every class we had required us to travel through the North Wing.

"I said, we will find another route to the Hall." repeated Erza in a dangerous tone.

The protests stopped and everyone quickly nodded in agreement.

Erza smiled, her threatening look vanishing, "Glad to see everyone agrees." she said, before turning her attention on Miss. Aries "I will make sure no one enters the North Wing without permission."

Miss Aries nodded gratefully, "I'm sorry for the trouble."

While Erza reassured Miss Aries, I elbowed Levy and whispered in her ear, "What do you think is really going on?"

Levy shrugged, "Who knows. " she answered, in the same quiet whisper, "Although, if you are thinking of finding out, you won't get very far in finding out with Erza is guarding the place."

At that moment, Erza's gaze filtered from Miss. Aries to glared directly at us, as if she knew exactly what we were discussing. And let me just say, Erza took a whole new meaning to the saying 'if looks could kill'. We faked an innocent smile, but Erza's gaze didn't shift a millimeter.

And when the smile doesn't work you do the next best thing; run.

"So, I heard we are having waffles with cream for breakfast," I said, turning around to face the group, "And I suggest we go before the freshman eat them all."

The group nodded and shuffled away back down the corridor, to find an alternate route to the Hall. I ran my fingers through my hair, and followed them; leaving Erza alone to finish discussing her watch times.

* * *

It turns out when you have to take a detour to the Hall you not only miss waffles with cream, but you also miss a lot more than that. For example: the memo about new security stationed outside of the Hall's doors.

And trust me, when you have twenty well- trained spies; who, by the way, are tired from making about three U-turns and twelve double backs trying to find the Hall, but we were also _hungry_. And irritated for not seeing the twenty strangers dressed in all black jump down from the shadows and engage you in hand-to-hand combat.

"I said, _Get Off_!" shouted Cana, placing a flawless roundhouse kick in her attacker's stomach.

Her attacker recovered quickly and easily caught her next kick with their hand. Her attacker then swiftly moved under her and shifted her weight in order to flipped her caught foot over her head; causing her to literally fly head-over-heels backwards.

"Cana!" I shouted when I heard her shriek in surprise and end up on the floor on her back.

I grunted in pain when my own masked attacker used my moment of distraction to punch me directly in the gut.

"'Rule 89- Never take your eyes off your objective.' " recited my attacker as he blocked my return hit with his forearm.

I narrowed my eyes in concentration. Okay, these masked people were obviously trained well in combat. Not to mention the fact that they somehow got their hands on a copy of _100 Basic Spy Rules for Dummies_.

I faked a swift kick to the left while my right arm came up fast with my hand in a fist. I heard a scoff come from my attacker before catching my clench fist inches before it made contact with the side of his face.

" 'Underground Dog- distract the enemy before swiftly knocking them out with a punch to the side of the face.' " he recited again.

My eye twitched in annoyance and ducked just in time to dodge their next attack. Not only were these creeps fast, but they have been obviously been informed on what exactly we were capable of.

"Lucy Kick!" I yelled as I kicked my right leg forward.

I smirked when my foot made finally made contact with his stomach. Hey, there was no rule saying the only moves I could make were the ones straight from the book. I would know too; Levy had the book memorized.

There was another shriek.

My eyes widened. It had come from Levy.

While my own attacker was still recovering from my hit, I pivoted sharply on my heel to find the noise had indeed come from Levy. Her attacker was about two times her size and was using it to their advantage. They had her arms pinned to her sides and raised a foot in the air. Levy kicked her heel backwards making contact with their chest. It was in vain, however, because her attacker didn't so much as wince as she continued to struggle.

Although, her attacker did wince when her bag's strap finally snapped and slipped off her shoulder. It landed directly on their foot with a loud thud. I couldn't blame them either, even someone of that size had to have felt _something_ when a 100 ton bag fell on your foot.

"Don't worry about your friends." said a muffled voice near my ear, "We don't seriously attack people without a reason."

That comment only made me fume. So, they weren't even attacking at full strength!

"You jerk!" I yelled and japed my elbow directly at his nose.

Stupid mistake.

He ducked before shifting to flip me over in the exact same fashion Cana's attacker had.

"I win." he said, moving for my legs.

"Not quite." I replied, smugly. I placed my right hand momentary on his back and flipped in an easy back flip before landing gracefully behind him.

I slipped into a basic defense position while my opponent turned his head to look at me over his shoulder.

"Impressive." he commented before dropping into a a similar pose.

That was the moment when the microphone flipped on.

"Okay, guys, I think you have made your point." said a static filled voice over the microphone.

Wait...microphones? There weren't any sort of microphones hooked up near the front of the Hall's doors. Behind me, I heard all sounds of fighting cease from the opposing side. I shifted my gaze slightly to look out of the corner of my eye towards the paused fights. Cana had successfully managed to get her attacker in a choke hold under her arm and was curiously looking at me as if asking for permission to continue. Levy was still in the same raised position as before, but had stopped her struggling when her attacker had released most of the pressure on their hold. Most of the girls from my group were in the similar positions, each paused halfway between attacking or blocking.

"What does that mean?" I asked, not moving from my defense position.

"He means exactly what he says." said my former attacker.

I winced as bright light shown on our group. I blinked rapidly for a few seconds before my vision returned to normal. I took the opportunity to take in my surroundings since we obviously weren't in front of the Hall's doors anymore.

And I really wished it hadn't.

We were all in the middle of the Hall with a spotlight shining directly on us. How we got there I had no idea. All I knew was we were still frozen halfway through fighting attackers who had obviously given up. And to make matters worse every student and teacher who attended Fairy Hill Academy were standing off to the sides watching us. I gulped when I saw most of the teachers shaking their heads as if they had just confirmed something they had been contemplating for quite some time.

I straightened up from my stance while Cana released her prisoner and Levy was dropped roughly to the ground by her captor.

"You can remove your masks now." said the same static filled voice from before.

I watched as they, including my own, reach up to remove their black ski masks from their faces.

I gasped when I saw who I had been sparing with seconds ago. It was a boy about my age with spiky pink hair and a huge grin. And given the equally surprised gasps coming from not only my fellow classmates but the underclassmen watching from the sides; I wasn't just making up them.

No, I wasn't making up the boys who had just made Fairy Hill history by being the first males in the last two hundred years to ever see the inside of our walls..._ever_.

The hydrophone crackled again as the voice spoke again, " Yes, yes. This must be a very surprise to you girls."

"Ya think?!" yelled Cana.

The voice coughed before continuing, "As you may have already figured out. The following fight was a test to see how you girls scale against boys in equal stats from another spy academy. We have now reached a conclusion."

I inwardly grimaced. I didn't need to see the looks my classmates were given me to know what they were thinking. We had failed..._badly_.

"What does that mean now?" asked Levy

"It means-" answered our academy's Headmaster, Porlyusica, as she began emerging from the shadows near the back of the Hall. "that you have a new assignment."

"Assignment?" I questioned.

"Yes, a new assignment." she repeated. "You all should be well aware of what happens after you graduate from this Academy, I presume?"

We nodded in union. The answer to that question was easy. We went into the real world where we would seperate. Some of us would go out into the field were we will being our assignments for the government, while others would work underground in the labs developing more inventions or cracking hidden codes.

"This test's purpose was to show us how you seniors would rank against the males competing in the same field. And, by what you have just shown us-" She eyed us with distaste. "You are in need of much more training."

Headmaster Porlyusica slipped through the crowd of teachers and underclassman towards us.

"These are the people you working with, ladies!" she said, her voice echoing off the walls, "And these are also the people you will be working _against_."

She stopped when she reached the middle of the Hall. She did a quick once over at our tangled hair and dirtied uniforms we had received from our fighting. She shook her head in disgust.

"There are no second chances in the real world. If you make one small mistake or one minor slip up; you're over." She turned her gaze directly to me and continued, "And if you are unable to meet the required marks. You will never be ready for the real world."

At this, she turned abruptly and began walking towards the doors leading out into the corridors. She raised her hand in a gesture for the underclassmen and teachers to follow.

"I will leave you alone to introduce yourself, boys!" called Headmaster Porlyusica's voice from the corridor as the last plaid skirt flashed out of sight .

The wooden doors shut, leaving us alone to deal with the "assignment" boys.

"Well," I prompted to the pink haired boy in front of me after a moment of silence, "Who are you?"

My irritated tone caused him to grin and hold out his hand for me to shake, "Name is Natsu Dragneel. I'm your new partner."

* * *

**A/N I tried a new writing style than what I usually do. Although, I'm not sure which I prefer. **

**Don't forget to Review!**


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